YO!

"Wise persons do not play leapfrog with unicorns."

GOOD PARTNERS

NEXT--COMPANION FLOWERS

LOVE THAT SAXIFRAGALE

A fine silver peony by Anne Choi, my favourite bead maker.

California peony.

Athena, a Saunders peony.

Duchesse de Nemours.

It is time to plant peonies. My choices, Duchess de Nemours and Baroness Schroeder, date back to the mid-eighteen hundreds. That happens to coincide with the period when French hybridisers released more than a hundred Noisette roses into the global market. West Virginia is not Noisette country. They need warmer climate such as that of South Carolina where Philippe Noisette brother grew the first Blush Noisette from seeds of a cross between a pink China rose and R.moschata. White, fragrant Sombreuil is an exception to that rule. It grows beautifully in Zone 6 and I suspect that Gloire de Dijon would do fine if planted next to a wall with southern exposure.

Good old Festiva Maxima partners my Sombreuil well--my Gloire de Dijon is still its infancy--but just as one can never be too rich, one can never have enough peonies. The good thing is there is a huge variety from which to choose. The bad thing is that there is a huge variety from which to choose. Peek at Klehm's Song Sparrow catalog and you will see how easy it would be to fling caution to the window and order a truckload of, say, Saunders' Athena. Multiply sixty dollars by a truckload and you might be flirting with insolvency. It might be more sensible to pick Coral Charm, which costs only twenty four dollars. But either is a good investment. Peonies multiply and they usually outlive those who plant them. What better legacy to leave than a lovely peony border?

Gardeners who prefer all American plants might want to look at California peonies, one of our native species. I have no problems with immigrants. French, Japanese, Dutch peonies are all welcome in my garden. I am currently eyeing the yellow Bartsella, an Itoh peony. It would look lovely with Gloire de Dijon.

SUPPORT YOUR TAFF AUTHOR

Hello Shepherd University! Nice of you to visit.

The admin of this blog is currently advising Matt Beynon Reees on his post-doc research on Floral Management. More anon.

LAURA JOH ROWLAND AND ZHANG DAI

Laura Joh Rowland not only writes well researched and entertaining novels, she also gives a terrific interview. She is the author of the acclaimed Sano Ichiro series set in 17th. century Japan. Recently, she wrote Charlotte Bronte's Secret Adventures, a mystery that places the Victorian writer and her family center stage. Read what she has to say about her work at www.richtexts.blogspot.com

While working on Joh Rowland's interview I read Jonathan Spence's biography of Chinese essayist and literary stylist Zhang Dai whose long life spanned the late Ming and early Qing Dinasties. Having lost his home and nearly all his possessions, including 30 000 volume library, and a priceless collection of art and antiques during the Cataclysm, the Manchu invasion of China, in 1644, Zhang rented a house in his favorite place, Happiness Gardens and set out to become a farmer. He learnt how to hull rice, how to care for silkworms, how to cultivate eggplant and pumpkin, and how to use his memory to reconstruct his paradise lost. here is what Spence, Sterling Professor of History Emeritus, Yale, wrote about Zhang in Timeasia Magazine,

"As part of his reconstruction of the vanished past, Zhang Dai wrote a further essay offering his readers the chance to construct the paradise for themselves. He gave all of us a blueprint for the use of air and space, in which wisdom was not buried underground or hidden by rocks but was part of an airy spring and summer world, where the formal placement of halls and corridors and pavilions was given logic by its relationship to the landscape of hills and trees, sky and water, always visible beyond. The constructed spaces echoed nature's rhythms, and paths led to waterways that guided one naturally to a river, curling through paradise to the north. There stood the gate, clearly marked "Paradise," and there was a bridge that might take one farther if one chose. But what would happen if one crossed it? Zhang Dai did not say; his paradise ended at the bridge. If we chose to linger there, he provided a chair, a breeze, and the clear light of the moon. The rest was up to us."

COMING SOON

Hello Frontiernet client!

The literary gardener.

SAVORY BISCOTTI

Hello Argentina, East Northport, Westchester, Brooklyn, Carmel, Mineola, NY, Skillman. NJ, Augusta, GA, Lemesos, Cyprus, Parow, ZA. Pozuelo de Alarcon, Spain, Mill Valley, CA! Thanks for visiting.

12 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature

4 eggs

1 cup milk

8 ounces grated Parmeggiano cheese

6 cups flour

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 tablespoons coarsely grated black pepper

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, minced

1 egg, beaten

Half a cup poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 350F. Blend butter and eggs. Add grated cheese. Add milk. Blend flour with pepper, salt and baking powder. Add to liquid mix. Add cheese and rosemary. Beat until thoroughly mixed. Shape into two 12" flattened logs. Place logs on a buttered cookie sheet. Score, diagonally, at half inch intervals. Brush each log with beaten egg and sprinkle with poppy seeds. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and allow logs to cool. Cut along scored lines. Return to cookie sheet and bake for ten minutes. Flip biscotti over and bake for ten more minutes. Allow to cool before storing.